Thinking of Friends from Angola...

Last night we got the news that our friend Jim Holden passed away.  He had several surgeries on his kidneys in the last while, and in the end succumbed to infection.  He was in his early 50's and so it was a shock to the family.

On our way to Angola in 2005 we spent a couple of weeks in Namibia waiting for our ride into Angola.  During our first few days there we were introduced to Janet Holden.  We spent the evening visiting and getting to know her and at the end of the evening she offered to take Talitha and Meagan up to Angola with her on the taxi/bus.  The girls were very excited to accept the invitation as they were already bored out of their minds at Otjari House in Windhoek.  So we accepted her offer and the girls were off with Janet LATE one night.  They made is safely to Angola and spent the next several weeks living with Holden family and learning a lot about Angola from them.

In the 3 years in Africa (Angola and Namibia) we had many opportunities to visit one or more of the Holden's at a time.  They would stop over at our house either on their way out of Angola or their way back in (or both).  Janet often showed up at our doorstep with malaria and thankfully I had several leftover packages of coartem sitting in my medicine cabinet and we had her nursed back to health in no time.  Jim was the quiet type but we enjoyed visiting with him and talking about his passion for ministry, which included his English school in Lubango and the ministry that flowed from that.  From what I gathered he really didn't like to leave Angola, he was generally impatient to get back when he was out of country!

We are thankful that they were able to come for a visit in August 2009, although short we were able to spend some time catching up.  We dearly love the Holden family and have been blessed to have them in our lives.  We sympathize with Janet and the kids, but we rejoice with Jim as he is now in the presence of Jesus... what JOY!  Life on this earth is short... what are we doing to make every moment count?  May we glorify God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength as we live out each day for HIM!

God Bless you Holden family as you seek to serve Christ with your lives!  We love you and miss you and are praying for you in this difficult time.

Charlene